"I've known Jay for a couple years... 'Ye and me been best friends since 2001," explained Keys in an interview with ThisIs50.com. "At the time [Kanye and I] met, I had produced three songs, years prior, on Mos Def's album. Back then, I'd be working on beats, and he'd call me up and be like, 'Yo, I think I got something for Jay.' And this is while The Blueprint was being made. ...He just played me one beat, and I'm like, 'Yo, you tryin' to see Jay with one beat?' I always tell him, like, 'Yo, you buggin! You gotta come with, like, a batch. What if he don't like that one?' And he's like, 'Nah, this is it.'"

Keys continue "So I'm slavin' on beats for like a week, two weeks straight, tryin' to get the perfect batch. We go, I play my batch [for Jay-Z], get the head nod, whatever, Kanye plays one, [and Jay-Z] says, 'Yo, let's throw that up.'"